Chinese Community Rises to the Challenge
$16,000 raised for Chineselanguage hep B service
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generous donation from a local doctor, support from a Chinese community association and donations from the community has ensured the continuance of an important hepatitis B service for another year. The Chinese-language information and support service was set up in 2016 as part of a 2-year hepatitis B community education project funded by the Australian government via Hepatitis Australia. Funding ended in June 2018. In its first two years the service had over 1,185 contacts with people seeking support after diagnosis, information on treatment and testing or
looking for help in getting appointments with health services. Between 6% and 10% of Chinese Australians have chronic hepatitis B, compared to less than 1% in the wider population. About 14,500 South Australians live with hepatitis B and more than a fifth (22%) of these people are from the Chinese community. Almost half don’t know they have it. Left unmanaged, hepatitis B can lead to liver cirrhosis or cancer. Hepatitis SA Hepatitis B Project Officer Chen Bin said it was important that the service continued uninterrupted.
CASA President Tan Tar Kim, past treasurer Siew Lim (standing, left to right); Hepatitis SA Board Chairperson Arieta Papadelos, Hepatitis SA EO Kerry Paterson and Dr Lee Wah Hin (seated, left to right)
“An interruption could lead to confusion, loss of confidence in our reliability and some people being left in the lurch,” she said. “Even if we were to get funding later to restore the service, we would have to start from scratch because of the loss of confidence. With support from the Chinese Association of South Australia (CASA), Hepatitis SA approached the community for donations to tide the service over while more secure funding was being sought. Dr Lee Wah Hin kick-started the campaign with $10,000; a second donation of $5,000 from CASA and a further $1,100 from other individuals in the Chinese community brought the total funds raised to $16,100, thus seeing a basic service through for another 12 months. Hepatitis SA would like to thank Dr Lee Wah Hin, CASA President Tan Tar Kim, Immediate Past President Julie Li, the CASA central committee, the CASA social committee and all the people who generously supported us with their time and money. v Cecilia Lim
More information about the project is available in the Viral Hepatitis 2018 conference presentation slides at buff.ly/2xwPwz3.
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HEPATITIS SA COMMUNITY NEWS 79 • September 2018
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